Brief stint as a student nurse....interesting lecture..the physiology of a hangover. Wasn't the 'official' title but that's what the lecturer called it. Krebs' Cycle i.e. the way water moves through the human body by osmosis (not the Ozzy album) and is shed via things like sweat and urine. For some reason not completely understood, alcohol makes this process go into overdrive, so when you're 'on it' you are dragging water (and carbohydrates and other things) from every part of your body faster than you can replace it, hence the urge to slash frequently and, for those who don't feel too ill to eat, the urge to drink loads of water and have a massive fry-up the next morning. Know what you mean about hanging on until the dam breaks!

Yep, go along with viet's post.Alcohol, alongside caffeine (to a lesser extent), therefore tea & coffee, are diuretics.Diuretics work by making the kidneys take out more Sodium & Chloride from your blood. This would then leave too much water in your blood, relatively, so water is then also removed, to balance the blood concentrations. Probably by Osmosis?This is also why salty foods make you thirsty. To balance the relative concentrations, you now need more water.The more alcohol is drunk, the more Sodium & Chloride (salt) is removed from the blood & thus, the more water is then removed from the blood, increasing the amount of urine produced.Alcohol also reduces the production of a hormone called vasopressin, which tells your kidneys to reabsorb water rather than flush it out through the bladder. With the body's natural signal switched off, the bladder is free to fill up with fluid.So, not only are you having to get rid of the extra pints of fluid that you're taking in, the alcohol is also sucking out extra water from your body. In fact for every 1g of alcohol drunk, urine excretion increases by 10ml.OrAlcohol makes you p**s more.

The awful feelings of a hangover the next morning, are just down to dehydration. Your brain cells are literally, bloody thirsty as f***!

Samba wrote:The awful feelings of a hangover the next morning, are just down to dehydration. Your brain cells are literally, bloody thirsty as f***!

Dehydration and acetaldehyde poisoning (produced from the breakdown of alcohol by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase).

Drinking lots of water before bed is still one of the best ways to avoid or limit a hangover after a heavy session.

Has anyone tried going out on the razz and only drinking water (as a controlled experiment)? If you had 10 pints of water would you still experience the 'breaking the seal then continuous visits' scenario? My guess is yes (since beer is effectively 95% water anyway), but who the hell can be assed to try?

BalaamBoy wrote:Has anyone tried going out on the razz and only drinking water (as a controlled experiment)? If you had 10 pints of water would you still experience the 'breaking the seal then continuous visits' scenario? My guess is yes (since beer is effectively 95% water anyway), but who the hell can be assed to try?

Sort of. I used to take a hip flask (actually, 2) out in the uni days, then ask for a pint of blackcurrant squash at the bar, which was about 30p. Pour the vokda in, job done. However, it was great for avoiding the hangover too.

If I did a whole night on that, then yeah you spend as much time going for a piss as when you're on the beers.

I studied biochemistry at college. We had a fun drinking game based upon the dose rate response curve of alcohol dehydrogenase (sigmoidal if you're interested).

Low amounts of alcohol do not activate the enzyme to break it down, only higher concentrations do. So we would challenge the big hairy rugger buggers that they could not drink 60 fluid ounces of beer in an hour.

They'd all say '3 pints in an hour, easy'.

BUT the challenge was that they were only allowed to have one fluid ounce per minute for 60 minutes. Basically a sherry glass or a shot every minute for 60 minutes.

Easy??

I lasted 26 minutes before I fell over. The best I saw was the 1st XV's number 8 (big chap) who lasted 37 minutes.

It's quite funny to watch people go from totally sober to paralytic within a minute or two . . .

BalaamBoy wrote:I studied biochemistry at college. We had a fun drinking game based upon the dose rate response curve of alcohol dehydrogenase (sigmoidal if you're interested).

Low amounts of alcohol do not activate the enzyme to break it down, only higher concentrations do. So we would challenge the big hairy rugger buggers that they could not drink 60 fluid ounces of beer in an hour.

They'd all say '3 pints in an hour, easy'.

BUT the challenge was that they were only allowed to have one fluid ounce per minute for 60 minutes. Basically a sherry glass or a shot every minute for 60 minutes.

Easy??

I lasted 26 minutes before I fell over. The best I saw was the 1st XV's number 8 (big chap) who lasted 37 minutes.

It's quite funny to watch people go from totally sober to paralytic within a minute or two . . .

I’ve heard about this. Got told about it by the fella who does the local pub quiz and I thought exactly the same. He called it the “Shot Glass Challenge” and as you say, it’s a shot glass full of beer every minute. He reckoned me and a mate couldn’t do it and offered us £100 if we did. We haven’t got round to doing it yet, but I think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew here. Oh dear … what have we done!!??

Cockneyboy311 wrote:What are those cables all about that you get across the road sometimes? Normally two thin cables which are attached to a metal box which is normally tied round a telegraph pole or something similar.

Er indoors reckons it might be to measure traffic. Is that right?

Speed monitors, to see if it is worth the money to stick the old bill and his camera there for the day

Greatest Cockney Rip Off wrote:I’ve heard about this. Got told about it by the fella who does the local pub quiz and I thought exactly the same. He called it the “Shot Glass Challenge” and as you say, it’s a shot glass full of beer every minute. He reckoned me and a mate couldn’t do it and offered us £100 if we did. We haven’t got round to doing it yet, but I think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew here. Oh dear … what have we done!!??

Simple answer - just cheat!

Don't tell your mate, but have a G&T at home before you get to the pub. Then your alcohol concentration should already be high enough to activate the enzyme, and the challenge becomes less difficult (but still not easy - I still wouldn't manage it).

BalaamBoy wrote:I studied biochemistry at college. We had a fun drinking game based upon the dose rate response curve of alcohol dehydrogenase (sigmoidal if you're interested). Low amounts of alcohol do not activate the enzyme to break it down, only higher concentrations do. So we would challenge the big hairy rugger buggers that they could not drink 60 fluid ounces of beer in an hour.They'd all say '3 pints in an hour, easy'. BUT the challenge was that they were only allowed to have one fluid ounce per minute for 60 minutes. Basically a sherry glass or a shot every minute for 60 minutes.Easy??I lasted 26 minutes before I fell over. The best I saw was the 1st XV's number 8 (big chap) who lasted 37 minutes.It's quite funny to watch people go from totally sober to paralytic within a minute or two . . .

Crikey this game sounds great! I'm going to challenge the missus to do it first, test the water so to speak.

Basic rules are:

You're not allowed to get out of your seat for the duration (ie no going for a piss)Shot glass must be 25ml with no foam in the beer, any foam is above the 25ml line. You must drink the shot within the minute, so no necking 10 shots worth then waiting 10 mins

BalaamBoy wrote:Dehydration and acetaldehyde poisoning (produced from the breakdown of alcohol by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase).You're right, there.

Drinking lots of water before bed is still one of the best ways to avoid or limit a hangover after a heavy session.But you'll still be up, pissing all night!

If you had 10 pints of water would you still experience the 'breaking the seal then continuous visits' scenario? Yes, but still think it'd be worse with alcohol, owing to the 'extra, body-water-grabbing, effect.

Of course, drinking 10 pints of water in too quick a time, is also a death sentence..

You're not allowed to get out of your seat for the duration (ie no going for a piss)Shot glass must be 25ml with no foam in the beer, any foam is above the 25ml line. You must drink the shot within the minute, so no necking 10 shots worth then waiting 10 mins

It is so much harder than it sounds. Uses 6 or 7 cans iirc.

The 60 shots in 60 mins is known as "the hour of power"

Brilliant. Thanks for that.

I've told her and she's up for it. Just got to wait for a day when we're not doing anything the next day. I've omitted to tell her how out of her nut she's going to get as she thinks it'll be a doddle. Oh I'm going to enjoy this, I just hope I can remember it.